Night star – Dreaming Goddess – Labrys – Snakes – Hand with seeds As we come into this time of the Solstice, I ask the question – What do people need to know in this Solstice season? The Council of Elders came to us this day to tell us, “Make your wishes, dream your dreams, you hold the power, release your fears, plant your seeds and know your dreams can come true.” The Night Star is there to light your way through the darkness. That simple rhyme of our childhood, Star Light, Star Bright, First star I see tonight… by which we made our wishes. Sometimes the wishes…

Maintaining a Book of Shadows This is not the article that I was going to write. I was going to write about Runes. I was going to do a review of the book, Runes for Beginners, by Alexandra Chauran, and write about the history of runes in general. While researching the subject, I looked through the notebooks that comprise my Book of Shadows, sure that I had something about runes. I most certainly did – coincidentally, it was a print-out of a page that I had on my computer screen at that very moment! I had received it in an email from a Yahoo group I was a member of…

Flags, flax, fodder, Frig ! This old Devonshire witch greeting conveys best wishes for the four goods in life: (1) a house (flagstones), (2) clothes (linen was common), (3) enough food (for you as well as your livestock) and (4) a good sex life. No. (4) is taken from the name of Odin’s wife, the Goddess Frig. Frig was the Goddess of conjugal love, so you are not wishing promiscuity on someone. No true Pagan will use Her name in coarse expressions, by the way ! Light a Candle Whenever a fundie or some other cowan (non-witch) vilifies my religion, I remind myself of the saying “better to light a…

  Lesser Sabbat – Winter Solstice, circa Dec 21 Other Names: Jul (“wheel”, Old Norse), Saturnalia(Rome ~December 17 & 18), Yuletide(Teutonic), Midwinter, Fionn’s Day, Christmas (Christian~December 25), Xmas, Festival of Sol, Solar/Secular/Pagan New Year Animals/Mythical beings: yule goat (nordic), reindeer stag, squirrels, yule cat, Sacred White Buffalo, Kallikantzaroi-ugly chaos monsters(greek), trolls, phoenix, yule elf, jule gnome, squirrels, wren/robin Gemstones: cat’s eye, ruby, diamond, garnet, bloodstone Incense/Oils: bayberry, cedar, ginger, cinnamon, pine, rosemary, frankincense, myrrh, nutmeg, wintergreen, saffron Colors: gold, silver, red, green, white Tools,Symbols, & Decorations: bayberry candles, evergreens, holly, mistletoe, poinsettia,mistletoe, lights, gifts, Yule log, Yule tree. spinning wheels, wreaths, bells, mother & child images Goddesses: Great Mother, Befana…

Book Excerpt: Pagan Portals: Celtic Witchcraft by Mabh Savage Stepping Stones Celtic Triad: Three candles that illumine every darkness: truth, nature, knowledge. In magic we look to the elements, the directions and spirits among many, many other things, as a way to quantify and understand the universal energies we are harnessing. In Wicca and other ritual based on a similar foundation, the cardinal points are the focus for an individual or coven to consecrate or cast a circle; North, East, South and West, and their associated elements, respectively Earth, Air, Fire and Water. The practitioner can then go deeper to the aspects of the world associated with each element; birds…

It’s that time of the year again, when everyone is running themselves ragged trying to find the “perfect” gift for each person on their list. This list is to, hopefully, help you out finding that gift for the Witches and Pagans in your life. 1. Shortbread Molds for the baker in your life that honors the Goddess: http://goddesstimeline.com/product/cakes-for-the-queen-of-heaven/ While you are at the website, check out their Goddess 3-D statues and the Goddess Timeline posters, which are stunning.   2. 2017 Datebooks Most of us are familiar with Llewellyn’s annual treasury of datebooks – The Witches’ Datebook and Calendar, The Spell-A-Day Almanac, the Sabbats Almanac and The Witches’ Companion. There is also…

Yule Spell Merry meet. At Yule, the darkest night before the rebirth of the sun, it is said the Holly King dies and the Oak King is born. A simple spell that echoes that is to gather three dried holly leaves, and using a mortar and pestle, crush them into a powder. On a piece of paper approximately four inches square, write in red ink a single word representing something you wish to give birth to. Add the holly powder and fold, roll or twist the paper up around it. Light it from the flame of a red candle, or by another symbolic means and as it burns in a…

Last month we talked about the Five of Wands; since we are in a “Wands” state of mind, let’s look at another Wands card, the Two of Wands. The typical image on this card shows a man, or sometimes a woman, holding a wand or staff with another wand or staff on the other side of the image, and holding a globe or crystal ball in the palm of his/her other hand. The person is usually standing in profile, or facing mostly away from the viewer, looking to the beautiful landscape in the background. There are usually mountains in the distance, and often there is some kind of water in…

Notes from the Apothecary: The Dragon Tree I recently returned from an eye-opening trip to Tenerife, where I saw a multitude of flora and fauna the like of which I had no idea even existed. Lizards scooting in and out of cracks in walls, some as tiny as your pinkie and some as long as your arm. Hawks hovering overhead, trying to catch the unwary ones. Smaller birds hopping from prickly pears to aloes, to plants I don’t even know the name for yet. The crown jewel in this cornucopia is the famous dragon tree at Icod de los Vinos: El Drago Milenario. Although the age of the tree is…

Sorghum Besom Merry meet. There’s something special about crafting your own magical tools. I just completed making a besom and it was simple enough you might want to try it. I had been sweeping my floors with corn brooms for more than a decade before I heard the term broomcorn. Flipping those two words triggered a brainstorm. Corn. I could grow corn. I could make my own broom. The first challenge was to find the seeds at a nursery. An employee consulted reference material to tell me the scientific name was sorghum bicolor. On Beltane, I planted a row about nine feet long and after thinning the seedlings, I ended…